the history of the handmade

There's a story behind this scarf...
Every handmade item has its own tale. A story about how it was conceived, who made it, how it was made, who it was made for, what it was made from, where the materials were collected, when it was made... (who, how, what, when and where: aren't they the elements of any good story?) Oh, I forgot the main ingredient: LOVE.
Everytime I see something I like on a flickr site or blog post I find it has its own tale about how it came to be. And I love finding out about its story...
And this scarf, known as Mum's scarf, has a story too. Everytime I look at or wear this scarf I'm reminded of my mum and the day we discovered this fabric together. It was Boxing Day 2006 to be precise. I'll never forget because this scarf started its life as two remnants from the Clegs remnant sale. (There should be an apostrophe there somewhere, but when the word ends in 'S' and its not plural I get all confused. My mum is an english teacher so she'll know where to put it!)
The Clegs Boxing Day Remnant Sale is an occasion not to be missed. (I really mean it. Ask anyone who has been.) Aunty Shabby and I had gone to the 2002 event and we both still have remnants bought on that day in our respective stashes. (I'm not sure if that means we bought too much or they are just so nice we are saving them for the perfect project. Probably a bit of both!) Each time I look at them I'm reminded of that day: the queueing; the grabbing; the women who were clearly more experienced at this than us and managed to grab that fab remnant just before we did; the baskets brimming with our score; the sitting on the floor at the sides of the store rationalising the remnants into piles (those we MUST have because they were just so beautiful, those which we knew exactly what to do with, and those just-in-case ones); and returning the leftovers to the pile for another woman to discover.
Anyway, last Christmas our mum was down from Brisbane. Mum had heard all about the 2002 sale and we thought it would be fun to go together. Based on our past experience, we briefed mum on our plan of attack. (We knew having three of us would be a distinct advantage!) Her very important role was to grab multiple baskets, stand back and take the remnants off us as we handed them to her. This would give Aunty Shabby and I two free hands each, optimising our grabbling potential. However, if Mum saw a fabulous remnant just stitting there, she was instructed to grab it!
We'd discussed what we were looking for. Aunty Shabby makes handbags and has a thing for warm colours and strong prints. My thing is scarves, so soft, fluid, silky fabrics in pinks and warm browns with a hint of floral would hit the spot. But anything green, charcoal, woolen or silk would suffice. Mum was looking for something for scarves in earthy tones.
After the grabbing, we sat down to sort our score. Mum had done a great job of grabbing too – so good that she had two remnants that we both fell in love with. A lovely sheer fabric in a warm brown shade probably best described as truffle. And, a floral-ish, circle-patterned fabric in pinks, browns and a bit of blue. They went beautifully together, and were a bargain: less than $20 for the two.

A close up of the patterned fabric
After an extended period of intense negotiation (the sort only mothers and daughters, or perhaps sisters can do), we struck a bargain:
1. Mum would buy the remnants in question
2. I would made the scarf immediately
3. And, if she didn't wear it by my 40th birthday (10 May) she MUST give it to me as a present.
(I admit it was a hard bargain, but she did agree!)

Look at how nicely it drapes. I was very happy with the design solution. Both fabrics were lovely and we had more than a metre of each. So I ended up joining them together and letting each to feature on one side of the scarf. When you wear it knotted like this, the two fabrics blend together into a lovely pinky-brown tangle of fabric.
I expect you can guess the rest. The story had a happy ending (for me at least!). Mum – being the mum she is and knowing that I love scarves, this one in particular, and that it was my milestone birthday and the colours were more me than her after all – gave me the scarf. She also got me some beautiful rose pink quartz beads that I turned into a great necklace...She gives the best presents!